Article excerpt

THERE are cries to take out Commissioner of Internal Revenue Rene Banez for his failure to meet his collection target, but it is likely President Arroyo will ignore them.

Banez remains one of the few men in government untouched by scandal, and, therefore, respected for their honesty and ability.

That he failed may not be blamed for poor performance or not trying hard enough. It is a direct result of bad business conditions.

How can the BIR get more out of the business community where the majority have been complaining of poor sales and rising costs for the past five years?

***

The best indicator of the halfdecade-old business doldrums which stubbornly refuse to be lifted has been the backbreaking hardships of bill collectors.

Companies, big and small, have never been as slow in paying creditors and suppliers. Two months to pay may be considered fair. Six months to pay is not a rarity. When a company goes down, as often happens, creditors are not paid at all.

With all that, how is the business sector to be squeezed for taxes?

***

Every time I notice the opening of a new establishment, a restaurant, a cyber cafe, an electronics shop, a shoe store, whatever, I hope it can pay the rent, payroll and Meralco. To begin with.

"Hope springs eternal within the human breast," says the poet who wrote the immortal "Casey at the Bat. …